NAYPYITAW, Burma — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird came bearing gifts Thursday as he travelled to Myanmar, ruled by one of Asia’s most repressive dictatorial regimes.

Baird met first with Myanmar President Thein Sein, then with prominent pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

To Suu Kyi, an opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate who used the visit to express concerns about the country’s upcoming April election, he presented a certificate of honorary Canadian citizenship and an informal invitation to visit Canada.

At his meeting with the president in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw, Baird raised the prospect of revisiting sanctions against the regime.

“Clearly we’ll be watching in the coming weeks with an eye to re-evaluating the measures that we’ve taken against the government here,” Baird told reporters.

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Canada imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions against Myanmar — also known as Burma — in 1988, in response to widespread human-rights abuses and military crackdowns against protesters. These sanctions ban military exports to the country, hinder trade and deny visas to senior members of the regime.

Baird held about an hour of talks with Sein at the opulent presidential palace, in a massive high-ceilinged ballroom with gold trim and a chandelier that appeared to be made out of diamonds.

Baird said Myanmar’s upcoming April election “needs to be transparent and it has to be respected afterwards.”

According to Baird, Myanmar’s government expressed “enthusiasm and support for a free, fair and transparent process.”

The president thanked Baird for visiting and through an interpreter said: “We have established our diplomatic relations since 1958 so it is almost 54 years.”

Baird’s visit to Myanmar comes amid signs the presiding military junta will allow more democratic freedoms in the country.

“I know there’s been a fight internally to get these reforms made so we want to give our support to the people who’ve been making the reforms and encourage them to continue in that direction,” Baird said.

“Obviously it’s a very good start. We want to acknowledge the progress they’ve made but we want to see it become part of the system.”

Baird praised the progress that’s been made so far in the country.

“We’re making clear that we’ve noted impressive progress to date and reinforcing that the April elections are an important milestone,” Baird said.

The trip is being described as part of a larger attempt to increase Canada’s profile in Asia.

Baird then flew to Yangon to meet Suu Kyi. The two spoke for about an hour at her house in discussions that included Myanmar’s upcoming election.

“We are very anxious that the election be free and fair,” Suu Kyi said, which means not just the April 1 voting day but in the campaign itself.

“We have just discovered there are many, many irregularities on the voters lists and we have applied to the election commission to do something about this,” Suu Kyi said as she stood beside Baird on her back porch.

“A lot of dead people seem to be prepared to vote on the first of April. We can’t have that, can we? And other things like that.”

Suu Kyi said her country is not yet free.

“We do not yet have complete freedom of information; we do not have complete freedom of communication; but this is what we have to work toward.”

Baird said he was “very concerned” to learn about the voting irregularities and said Canada will be watching to see what happens when the opposition brings those concerns forward to government.

Suu Kyi promised that her party would “make sure that whatever has gone wrong is put right at some time or the other.”

“We don’t want to condemn irregularities outright if they can be remedied in some way.”

Baird presented her with a silver Maple Leaf charm bracelet as a gift.

“We’d love to have you visit Canada at some point in the future,” Baird told her. “If you’re smart you’d be staying to campaign.”

Asked if the world community is giving the government too much credit for the reforms, Suu Kyi said: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is all right.”

“I think you should also be very balanced in your judgments,” she said.

Baird said Canada is helping to support the Burmese people by contributing to international organizations such as the United Nations.

“We would love to be able to play a bigger role in development and trade and commerce,” he said.

Meanwhile, Suu Kyi said she welcomed development aid “that is used for our people,” meaning aid that is transparent and accountable.

“The government of this country must do its best to help its people first,” she said. “It’s no use saying, why aren’t other countries helping, until we can prove our government is doing its best to help our people first.”

Earlier Thursday, Baird also presented gifts to the Speaker of one of the houses of Parliament in Myanmar, Thura U-Shwe Mann.

In January, the Speaker’s office had asked the Canadian Embassy for a donation of books in order to establish a parliamentary library here.

Baird brought 13 volumes with him, including House of Commons procedure and practice, Beauchesne’s Rules and forms of the House of Commons of Canada, Parliamentary Privilege in Canada, and How Canadians Govern Themselves.

He also donated a USB memory stick containing 11 digital files from government websites on topics ranging from the rules of the Senate, a guide to estimates, a compendium of House of Commons procedures, a guide to making federal acts, various files on the justice system and the electoral system and a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.